Sunday, December 04, 2016

What was it 2008? When the unwashed masses were still in Orkut, I got an invite for a site called Facebook.

First look - thought Facebook was like Flickr - for sharing Photos. It had a weird kind of magic that kept me hooked. Then I got tied to Twitter.

Then bought my first smartphone - Samsung Galaxy S - and used a horrible app to access Facebook ( no it was not built by Facebook ). Later FB built its own hybrid app - on Phonegap which sucked - after which they released a native app which was damn slick.

Later I moved to iPhone ecosystem - FB and Twitter were my constant companions on my first screen.

Now, after almost 8 years - I have logged out - for good. In the new phone, I have not installed FB or Twitter.

Why?

I arrived at a conculsion by myself - that SM - Social Media is no good. For a developer SM is a huge time sink and also has stolen the ability for thinking deep and hard. I tried getting my head around Angular 2 - and found I was not being able to concentrate like usual.

About the same time - I read Deep Work by Cal Newport - what an eye opener it was. Had all the points to buttress my conclusion - SM is not only bad for you - but it is also evil!

I was able to get Angular 2 internalised, became an ionic developer ( my previous developer had quit, and I could not find a replacement ), crunched quite a no. of books, put my work stuff in order and had the most productive month in November.

Early days - hands did itch to open FB and Twitter - but had to distract myself in more work.

Now I spend the entire day oblivious to what is happening in the world. I wait for the morning newspaper - Economic Times - and I read all the pages.

I still have Flipboard - and access it once a day to read about new tech stories. I have Magnus Carlsen Chess app - I set him at 5 years and beat him every time ( I managed to stalemate once :( ) . I have a sudoku app - sharpening my skills whenever I am bored.

For FB and Twitter - dont miss it anymore. Perhaps when I meet my old friends next, I will listen to their stories fully - instead of saying - oh I saw it in FB and stopping the conversation on its tracks.

Next on target is Whatsapp - our office fully runs on Whatsapp. Not sure how to wean away from it.